I rolled my eyes. Morgana was nice and a bit goofy, but sometimes it took her a while to process things.
“What?” Jagger said, challenging me.
“They’re my friends. If I want to tell them we’re,” I lowered my voice, “having sex, then I’ll do it myself.”
“Fine. I forgot how embarrassed you are of me,” Jagger said before turning and walking out the door.
“Men are the worst,” I growled as I balled my hands at my side. “Excuse me, Morgana. I’ll take a raincheck on that lunch celebration.”
“Of course,” I heard Morgana say as I marched out the door.
When I was outside the shop, I noticed he was about to step into a taxi. I scurried over before he could close the door.
“Jagger. Where are you going?” I said slightly winded.
“To your place.” He turned to me with the door between us.
“Without me?”
“I figured you would end up there. We need to talk, and I’m not about to do that in a flower shop.” He pushed the door open to allow me to climb inside.
I turned to him once we were seated and he gave the address to the driver. “Okay, so let’s talk.”
His eyes remained focused on the driver. “Okay, so let’s talk.”
“Okay,” I said through clenched teeth.
It was a silent and stuffy trip back to my building. What was only a ten-minute drive felt like hours with Jagger’s irritable silence.
When we finally made it inside my apartment and I shut the door, all the words Jagger had pent up came rushing out. I was endangered of being knocked down by a tidal wave of sound.
“What is it about me that you find so repulsive? Is it that I’m not rich like every guy your friends date?” He paused.
My mouth fell open and as I was about to respond he continued, “Maybe it’s that I’m currently jobless. Or you’re ashamed of that night in Vegas. Which I can promise you nothing happened.” He pointed his finger in the air as if that statement alone made him some sort of saint.
“Except we got married, and I have no recollection of that night.” I folded my arms as we stood in the entranceway of my apartment. The man didn’t even let me put down my purse.
He cleared his throat, his eyes taking a break from trying to burn me alive. “Except for that, yes. If I had known you wouldn’t remember anything, I probably wouldn’t have married you.”
“Probably?” I took a step closer, throwing my purse on the kitchen counter beside us.
“Most likely. Not. No, I would not have married you.”
And that’s when I faltered. Something stuck in my throat, and I had to take a moment before I could speak.
“Then you regret it?” I asked.
He rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. “No. I don’t regret marrying you. I don’t think I regretted it even when I stepped out of the hotel bathroom the next day and found you weren’t there.”
My eyes burned, and I couldn’t tell if my heart wanted to jump out of my chest or melt into oblivion.
“How about you, Tiffany? Do you regret marrying me?”
Of all the uncertainty I had about Jagger, this was the one answer I knew for certain.
“Yes,” I said.
TWENTY-FOUR
Jagger
“Our marriage ended,” I said before I took a hefty sip of the whiskey sour in front of me, “with a stroke of a pen.”
“That’s usually how they end,” the bartender said as he wiped down the bar around me.
“It’s funny but I never thought I would get married. And I really never thought I would be fired as a secret government spy because I went rogue and started to plant cameras in a person’s home that I didn’t have the authority to spy on.” I chuckled as I lifted my glass.
The bartender stopped cleaning and stared at me.
“Uh, were you supposed to tell me that?”
“No, probably not. But fuck it. What are they going to do to me?” I made air quotes with my fingers, spilling some of my drink. “Make me disappear?”
I laughed again but stopped as I found my answer. “Actually, they might. Best I not tell you any more.”
I winked at him, and the bartender started to walk backward until he was at the end of the bar where he stayed.
Alone once more. Perhaps I was meant to be alone. No friends. No family. I should get a plant. Something that doesn’t require a lot of water because I really don’t like hanging out in my apartment.
After Tiffany took my heart and slashed it into a thousand parts and then pissed on it yesterday, I left. I may be a lying, lonely jerk but I don’t hang around where I’m not wanted.
I spent the night barely sleeping and then most of the day trying to write a business proposal so I could ask the bank for a loan. I gave up an hour ago and came to this bar. It was filled with people just getting off work, lucky bastards.
I felt a slap on my back and without much thought as adrenaline kicked in, I grabbed the hand, turned, and twisted the man’s arm until he was pinned to the bar.
“Oh, Henrik. It’s you. How’s it going?” I asked.
“Fine,” he moaned, and I realized I still had him pushed against the bar so I let him go.
“Sorry, you surprised me.”
He rubbed his arm and nodded. “I could tell.”
“Where’s Morgana?” I asked as my eyes scanned the room.
I zeroed in on two other guys I recognized, Edgar and Alexander. They were seated at a table. Edgar pretended he didn’t see me while Alex smiled and waved.
“She’s having her bachelorette party. So, I decided tonight was a good night to do the bachelor night with the guys.” He glanced at my glass. “Is that a whiskey sour?”
I frowned. “Yeah.”
We stood there in silence for a minute. It was nice to drink in peace and not feel like I had to talk. But just as I was getting used to Henrik being there, he opened his mouth.
“You want to join us? I don’t think the guys would mind.”
I turned back to look at the table Henrik was pointing toward. The table was small, seated four at most. There was a candle in the middle as if it was meant for a romantic evening and not for a bunch of guys wanting to get drunk.
I nodded at Alex who began to wave again. As I was about to turn Henrik down, I saw Edgar putting his hand to his face, trying to hide from me.
“Sounds good. I’d be happy to join you.” I slapped Henrik on his shoulder.
He winced and rubbed where I had touched him, but led the way to the table.
“Hey, guys, look who I ran into,” Henrik announced.
Edgar’s eyes slid to me before he glanced back at Henrik. “He might steal your fiancée and make her do dangerous stuff for the government.”
Evaleen must have told Edgar about her new job. No wonder he’s acting extra icy toward me.
“What?” Henrik tilted his head trying to make sense of his friend.
“Nothing.” Edgar glared at me before turning back toward Henrik. “Did you order the drinks?”
“Crap, I forgot,” Henrik said.
“That’s okay, it’s your night. I’ll go order.” Edgar almost jumped off the stool and made his way to the bar.
“Hey, Jagger. Glad you could join us.” Alex gave me a smile.
I liked Alex. He may have more money than I could possibly imagine and appeared to be a cross between a bear and an ancient god, but he was the most down-to-earth guy I knew.
“Aria told me she ran into you a couple of times. I don’t know if she thanked you, but we are very grateful for you helping us,” Alex said as I took Edgar’s vacant stool.
“I’m sorry I had to take down your mom, Alex.” I was unsure how he was handling that.
Emma Hawthorne was an evil and cunning person, but she was still his mom.
“I’m not.” He shook his head. “She was worse than I ever imagined. All those years I thought she was just trying to control my life and then to fin
d out she wanted to control everyone else’s lives too. She was like some villain in a movie, but she was the woman who raised me.”
We were all silent for a moment.
“You don’t have to worry about her anymore. She’s on tape admitting everything. There isn’t a judge in this country that would let her get off.” I slapped his back.
Edgar arrived with a tray filled with a pitcher of beer and three glasses.
“Help yourselves, gentlemen. Except for you, Jagger. I assumed you had your own drink.” Edgar stared at my almost empty tumbler.
I stood and grabbed my glass. “You’re right, Edgar. I’ll go grab a refill and then we can all get to know each other a little better. Maybe talk about how we all met.”
The color drained from Edgar’s face and he was about to say something when Henrik spoke up, “Sounds like a great idea. I’d love to hear how everyone met Jagger.”
With a chuckle still on my lips, I moved toward the bar. As I waited for the bartender to finish with someone else, I felt a vibration on my ass. Reaching back, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket.
“Hello?”
“Jagger, it’s Tenn.”
I put the glass down on the bar. I was surprised to hear from him since I was no longer an agent. Then I remembered asking him to look into that guy Tiffany was in that picture with.
“Did you find out about the man in the photo?” I asked.
“What? Oh, not yet. Other things have come up so I haven’t had time to look him up.”
How quickly Tenn forgot I worked with him for two years. His “too busy at work” excuse was code for not going to happen. Any belief that Tenn might have my back was gone. I was nobody to him now.
“Then why are you calling? I’ve got things to do,” I said as I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice.
“It’s the Jewel.”
“What about Emma Hawthorne?” I said before sighing.
I guess I’m not such a nobody now that he needed some questions answered about the case. Tenn went on and on this past month about how ready he was to head a big case and now that he’s in charge, who does he call? Me, that’s who. The nobody.
“She’s escaped. We have no idea where she is,” Tenn said right as the bartender appeared.
“Another whiskey sour?” the bartender asked, but I waved him away and turned my back.
“What? How did something like that happen?” I moved quickly past the guys at the table and out the front door of the bar. Once I was on the sidewalk, I moved around the corner to a darkened alley to hear better.
“I was hoping you might know something,” Tenn said with a resolve I wasn’t used to.
“Why would I know anything? I’m not an agent anymore, remember?”
My eyes watched the people walk by the alley, most unaware I was only a few feet from them. A few glanced my way when they heard me talk but the lack of light shaded me.
“You were fired for a reason—”
“Which was because you told Katlin about me spying on Tiffany.” I was ready to reach through the phone and strangle him.
It was stupid of me to spy on her, but Tenn promised not to say anything. I told him I pulled the equipment, that I kept my word to stop spying on her, but he told Katlin anyway.
Maybe this was his plan all along? He wanted me fired and had the perfect excuse to make that happen.
“I never told Katlin anything. She only said you were let go because of something involving the Jewel case. Since Emma Hawthorne started to accuse you of framing her, I thought there might be some truth to that.”
This was why I was in charge of missions. Tenn was great at putting agents and equipment in place, but he wasn’t the best at keeping his mouth shut.
“I can see why you would believe that, but it’s not true. You’ve known me for years, when have I ever helped a criminal?”
“The way you’ve been acting for the last few months, I wondered if I really knew you.”
He was right. Tenn didn’t know me. No one knew me. Not even Tiffany. Maybe that’s why she regretted marrying me.
“As I said, it’s not true what Emma Hawthorne was saying about me. But if it was true, Tenn, you just revealed everything to me. If I’m a suspect, why did you tell me all that?” I shook my head worrying what would happen to this case with Tenn heading it.
“Fuck. You’re right.”
“Did you put into place some ops on her old contacts?” I asked.
“I was going to do that but I wanted to call you first.”
“This is so messed up. Get people tailing anyone she had contact with. Even me, if you have to. But, I have to warn you, I’ll figure out who’s tailing me before they even get a chance to put their car in park outside my building.”
“I know,” Tenn said, and I heard a loud sigh from the other end. “I wish you still worked here.”
For the first time, I realized I was happy not being an agent.
“Well, I don’t. You wanted to head a mission? You got it. Find the Jewel.”
“Right. Who do you think told Katlin about you spying on Tiffany?”
“I don’t know. But while you find Emma Hawthorne, I’m going to figure out who is spying on me.”
Someone must have seen me because Tenn was the only one that I told. Obviously, I told Dr. Randy but he’s required to keep everything confidential. He will give opinions to the department head if he believes an agent is a danger to themselves or others.
Maybe he thought I was a danger? He could have easily called Katlin after I left his office. It would have been a short conversation as it only took me a few minutes until I was outside her office.
I hung up the phone as the realization hit me. Emma could be coming after Aria. Aria was at the bachelorette party. Tiffany was at that party. I had to get to them right away.
Once I made it back inside the bar, I ran up to Henrik’s table.
“You need to tell me where the ladies are?”
“I don’t think they want you spying on them, Jagger,” Edgar mumbled loud enough for me to hear as he lifted his beer to his lips.
“They might be in danger. I need to get to them,” I said glancing at the men.
TWENTY-FIVE
Tiffany
“It’s really loud,” Morgana yelled as Aria and Morgana’s mom guided her to our table.
The place had more lighting than I expected but Morgana was right, it was loud. She still didn’t know where we were as her grandma insisted on keeping her blindfolded.
“Just one more step. There, you can take your blindfold off,” Morgana’s mom said as she let go of her daughter’s hand.
Morgana slipped off the pink bandana and glanced around. Her brow furrowed. “There’s a stage. Is this one of those dinner theaters?”
Her grandmother took her seat on the long white couch and waved over a shirtless man wearing leather pants and a bowtie.
“In a way. Except we already had dinner. This is more drinks with a show. And they do show everything here. Don’t they, sweetie?” Her grandmother’s hand slid over the man’s bicep before drifting down his arm.
“Yes, tonight is the Full Monty show. Now, what drinks would you like to start with?” he asked.
I knew when I saw the sign out front that it was a strip club. Who would mistake Hunk O-Rama Male Revue as anything other than a male strip club?
Any other time I would be a little thrilled to come to a place like this. Something different and fun. But, looking around at the half-naked men made me miss Jagger. Especially, his chest. He had a better chest then all these men.
The first thought I had when I saw the strip club was making Jagger put on a show of his own for me.
Then I frowned as I remembered how brooding and silent he was when he left yesterday. When I tried to call him later and earlier today, it went directly to voicemail. I haven’t heard from him since.
No Jagger show for me.
I wish he had let me explain what I meant when
I said I regretted marrying him.
“Three shots a piece of tequila with some lime wedges. Oh, and bring out a basket of your curly fries,” Morgana’s grandmother said.
“Since you ladies have the VIP table, you get complimentary champagne,” he said.
“Fine, bring that as well.” Her grandmother waved the guy off.
“That’s a lot of alcohol. Maybe we should just start with the champagne and then—” Morgana’s mom said, taking her seat next to Morgana’s grandma.
“It’s a bachelorette party, Annette. Live a little.” She rolled her eyes at Morgana’s mom before turning toward her granddaughter. “What do you think?”
Morgana, with eyes so round I wondered if they might fall out of her head, glanced around the room. We were seated on a large, leather, U-shaped couch that hugged a low white table. The room was dark, with dark wood floors and black walls. Green lighting poured down from the ceiling against the walls to make it appear like a green waterfall.
“It’s a bachelorette party all right,” Morgana said with a frown on her face.
“I love it. Great idea, Mrs. Austin,” Aria said reaching over to pat Morgana’s grandma on the back.
“Please, call me Denise. I’m just one of the ladies tonight, and if I’m lucky enough, I’ll be hanging with the guys after!” She wiggled her brows as Aria high fived her.
The waiter came back with the drinks and additional glasses of water. I slowly sipped my champagne and passed off my shots to Aria. Evaleen sipped on water next to me.
I snacked on a few fries and was surprised at how good they were. After we had been there about twenty minutes, the white lights lowered and colorful strobe lights began to wildly flash around the stage.
“Welcome, ladies, to the special Full Monty show here at the Hunk O-Rama Male Revue! In a moment, some of our seasoned pros are sure to make you sweat with our pre-show. Right after the pre-show, you will be in for a treat. All the way from our New York venue, four of the hottest men will let you see it all!” the announcer said overhead.
It was fun to see the guys dance around the stage, taking off their clothes. They were quite talented, and I wondered if they were professional dancers during the day. Even the light show was impressive. When the limousine drove up to the strip club, I thought it was going to be seedy, but they put on an entertaining show.
The Spy Ring (Cake Love Book 4) Page 15